RT BBL S6 - Week 10/9 6th September 2015

[lawastooshort]

Not from me

[DaigaroOgami]

Indeed, RL comes first; and seen as this has been a transatlantic season with 3 new coaches I'd say we've done pretty well, time wise. Yeah it's annoying we don't all finish together, but it's only a few games, and the title will most likely be decided tomorrow evening anyway so the La's last game will be a dead rubber.

Or dead thrall, so to speak.

6th September is fine for me; I'll be a nursing a hangover from a weekend watching egg chasing, but I'll be back by then.

[Gandalf]

You know that's nothing to do with the schedule and everything to do with La not being able to make some Sundays, right?

As la says - my game with him had to be postponed even though I had said I couldn't do that date before the season even started. It could've been mitigated. la's holiday could've been on a catch-up week too (though I can't remember when he publicised his holiday dates).

Fine with cup starting 6th September, qualifying matters excepted. I will go through our half-a-game before then which may help to clear things up.

[DaigaroOgami]

Everybody has been on holiday this season G, it's the summer holidays. I'm not sure we could've done much different scheduling wise.

[Moose]

Nj I have to be really annoying and say I can't do this Sunday, I can do Saturday and I can do next weekend but I'm away all week on site and internet is dodgy at my acomadation, apologies but personal matters have come up on Sunday.

[DaigaroOgami]

RL comes first moose, don't sweat it

[Gandalf]

I think it could've been a bit better but there's no point arguing about it. Of course I agree RL comes first, but there are some expected/planned things that people can - and usually do - work around. And it's a lot better than it was in the past with certain players who aren't playing this season who were rather poor. I should probably be more grateful for people this season, I can't remember anyone not turning up without letting others know beforehand.

I also enjoy those weeks when there are 4 matches and we are all on together but there have been precious few of them this season.

[Abomination]

I think if there were any schedule mixups, it could've been partially cos of me; I was added in only a short while before the games began so might've been a wrench?

[notjarvis]

Nj I have to be really annoying and say I can't do this Sunday, I can do Saturday and I can do next weekend but I'm away all week on site and internet is dodgy at my acomadation, apologies but personal matters have come up on Sunday.

Not a problem.

Happily replay next sunday.

Or if people want to crack on with the cup next weekend (and as I don't think it affects the league placings)

I would happily accept a 0-0 draw for the record?

[Gandalf]

notj - You can't accept a draw unless you want to give up your cup place as you're in danger of not being in the cup. It depends how your & Rav games go next week.

[lawastooshort]

Lucky Vamps beat invulnerable Skaven 2-1 to clinch league title



Pre-match
The Skaven took a wizard and some mercenaries.

First half
The Vampires received and tried to trundle slowly up the pitch, but quite quickly got stuck by a swarm of rats that they juts couldn't injure off. A wizard fireball came down on the ballcarrier, doing nothing at all, and some fancy footwork ended up with Aristotle scoring in Turn 8. The Skaven didn't one turn an equaliser.

Second half
Worried by the slightly advancing Vampire pressure, the Skaven scored in Turn 12 or 13, leaving enough turns for the Vampires to get totally swarmed by rats but bash/gaze their way out to a Tun 16 winner. During this Socrates got a Pinched Nerve, which is going to take a week to recover from.

Post-match
The Vampires got better d6, the Skaven got better 2d6. If the last game of the season mattered I would have been upset about losing a quarter of my best players for the match, but no.

Abom defended well in the first half,although I wouldn't have minded such a slow attack if any of my blitzes had injured his players (I didn't even get a single KO). He might have been able to take a bit longer with his equaliser (and held out for a draw) or a bit quicker (and taken the chance of harrying for a win), but it was beginning to look a bit risky so the score was understandable.

A good season for the bloodlusts (after the game vs Khorne) was the main thing pushing the Vampires to the top, I think. I'll be sad to drop them next season, they're a good fun team and are just warming up developmentwise.

[DaigaroOgami]

MAtch report to follow, needless to say it was silly.

Well, Rav was a bit...

[Raveen]

....dumb.

Next week we won't be moving to the cup as there are two games outstanding.

I will play La and nj will play Moose.

Cup starts the following week.

See other thread.

[Red Lion Three]

Nurgle.png (495.47 KiB) Viewed 8478 times

Kick-off! Perfect defense; the Amazon front line shifts left to better match up with their Nurgle counterparts. When the game starts, a Cyanide-related glitch reveals the Amazon players are still in the same locations but have been randomly shuffled. Fortunately the result is not too bad - though the lass with guard on the wing feels a little lonely and forlorn.

The ball goes deep into the Nurgle half. Nurgle start with doing a bit of bashing, but (a story that repeats throughout the game) the Zons come through relatively unscathed. Eventually Trudy Lies (an ex-Zons rotter, boo hiss) gfi's and falls over. In the Amazon reply a gap opens in the Nurgle front line and one of the ladies runs through into the centre of the Nurgle half. Gandalf again tries a spot of front-line bashing without much success. Then he attempts to pick up the ball. And then has another go. Oh dear. The Amazon player nearby nearby dodges away from their marker, picks up the ball (4+), dodges away and double-gfi's to score in turn two. Hmmm, unexpected.

Kick-off! Both teams get a bribe. Given that the Amazons' best chance in the match is to keep as many players on the park as possible, while Gandalf has a dirty player for fouling, a pro-fouling bonus favours him. (So in practice you did win one of the early kick-off results Gandalf!) This time the Nurgle have better luck picking up the ball. They run down the centre of the park. The Zons try to gum up the works as much as possible, getting tackle zones on the ball carrier. A few are sent to the knocked out box, but fortunately no-one is injured. Well, until I try to dodge away someone trapped on the side. Dead. Apothecary: no long term effect! But an administrative error leads to a bit of malpractice and the need to buy a new thrower after the game. Eventually Nurgle break free in turn 8 and, after escaping a 2D block on the wing and making a dodge, equalize.

Kick-off! With only one zon turn left in the half, this is short and nothingy. Half-time.

Kick-off! My favourite event, a pitch invasion. So chaotic; what will happen? This time, it comes out in the Zons favour - they have three on the deck to the Nurgle four, and are knocked out for less time. Without the need to make holes in the Nurgle front-line, a Zon catcher can run straight into the centre of the park. In a shock move, Gandalf sends the beast of Nurgle to full-back to mark this catcher. Gandalf does get a marker on the ball carrier, but they are swiftly knocked over and the ball goes up the right wing. Two Zons screen the ball carrier, but Gandalf can (with a dodge and some gfi's) get to the, if he goes the long way round. Unfortunately he times out while planning his route, and the Zons can run over with gfi's.

Kick-off! Blitz to the Zons. A few change position, but in general they are happy to sit back and simply get in the Nurgle's way. They only need to hold out for 5 or so turns. A pestigor acquires the ball, and heads into the centre. With a few turns to go, Gandalf has choices to make. Does he try and send the Pestigor solo, or keep players together and go in numbers? Well, one pestigor goes into space down the wing, while the one with the ball charges alone down the centre of the park. This leaves the ball carrier isolated and surrounded, and the winger the only player in scoring distance. Then to make matters worse Nurgle double double-skulls. The Zons ignore the ball carrier, and mash the winger off the pitch. Nurgle get a turn-16 consolation for battering (no long term effect).

Aftermath:

Having played two games against the Nurgle pre-season, I decided the Zons' best strategy was to simply get up in the Nurgle's face. Press high up the court, ignore danger and get ladies to the ball carrier, don't allow Nurgle space and hope that too many players don't get injured off the pitch - after all, individually the warriors are strength four but don't have many punishing skills yet. Forget columns and rely on being hard to knock over. This strategy relies on things going my way, which in the game they did. The Nurgle knocked plenty down, but didn't cause injuries; the pitch invasion opened up the space the Zons needed to get their second score.

D6 Nurgle had -5, Zons had +1

2D6 Nurgle +12, Zons +7

Block dice in the Zons favour.

Things could have gone differently. Yes, the dice and pitch invasion made things easier - but the Nurgle allowed a Zon a clear-ish path to the ball in turn two, used the beast as a full-back (which could have been genius another day) and sent lone rangers into the Amazon half towards the end of the game rather than going in numbers.

[Gandalf]

Kick-off! Both teams get a bribe. Given that the Amazons' best chance in the match is to keep as many players on the park as possible, while Gandalf has a dirty player for fouling, a pro-fouling bonus favours him. (So in practice you did win one of the early kick-off results Gandalf!)

I think this is the closest you can argue that I gained an advantage from a kick-off roll, but the bribe didn't work. I probably wouldn't have fouled that player if I didn't have a bribe so ultimately this kick-off ended up in your favour too :p

Kick-off! My favourite event, a pitch invasion. So chaotic; what will happen? This time, it comes out in the Zons favour - they have three on the deck to the Nurgle four, and are knocked out for less time. Without the need to make holes in the Nurgle front-line, a Zon catcher can run straight into the centre of the park. In a shock move, Gandalf sends the beast of Nurgle to full-back to mark this catcher.

Remember that I had a lot of players lying on the floor at the time, there were limited numbers who could mark him. And, with a lack of tackle, putting my player with tentacles on your fastest catcher & most advanced player I would argue was a sensible move.
Pitch invasion generally helps the receiving player anyway - as you say - because they have one less turn on the floor.

With a few turns to go, Gandalf has choices to make. Does he try and send the Pestigor solo, or keep players together and go in numbers? Well, one pestigor goes into space down the wing, while the one with the ball charges alone down the centre of the park.

As if often the case with me coaching this team, the thought process was actually "aw heck I have almost no time left, if I'm going to score I need to charge forwards now". Those two were the only ones that could advance, with the rest of my players working to make a gap in the first place (or in the case of my fouler, was sent off). The alternative was to try and squeeze more players through but that would've involved plenty of dodge rolls. You could argue that the poor coaching was getting in that situation to start with. I find it difficult to work out who to block with who.

Block dice in the Zons favour.

31% success and 5 turnovers from 54 blocks... doubt I will see those numbers that terrible again from this team. I had 4 players with block, but seemed to keep rolling Both Down on the players without it. I tried to get my players with block to target your players without block but there's so many of them, it was difficult. No Tackle didn't help either, but neither did rolling double skulls 3 times (twice very near the start of turns).

but the Nurgle allowed a Zon a clear-ish path to the ball in turn two used the beast as a full-back (which could have been genius another day) and sent lone rangers into the Amazon half towards the end of the game rather than going in numbers.

I did make mistakes but I don't think any of these three counted as mistakes. The latter two I explained above. About the first one, I could've covered the ball more but that would've limited my options once I had picked the ball up, and I had an 8 in 9 chance of doing so. So I chose the riskier option - the odds of me not picking it up then you sneaking in & picking it up to score were only ~8% after all. I was happy to go with those odds and in the same situation would do so again. Though hopefully that Pestigor will have Extra Arms by then, making it a 35 in 36 chance of picking it up.

Amazons are always a tough opponent (unless you're dwarves) and that again proved true. I thought my players were up to the task, having more skills than last time we met, but clearly more upgrades are required! It was hard to come back following the luck of the first TD and the pitch invasion but I think the Amazons deserved their victory in the end.